Journal lubricator



Feb..20, 1968 A. F. EMMERSON ETAL 3,369,852

JOURNAL LUBRIZCATOR Filed Dec. 6, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l w Q w L mmm (www. 8 A K www f, M mf MZ m f// IP/rrr WM# .m 1/ wv e@ y@ L f wm ,T J L Feb 20, 1968 A. F. EMMERsoN ETAL 3,359,852

JOURNAL LUBRICATOR Filed Deo. 6, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 nited States Patent @ffice 3,369,852 Patented Feb. 20, 1968 3,369,852 JOURNAL LUBRICATOR Arthur F. Emmerson, 425 Bell Ave., Altoona, Pa. 16602, and Clarkson T. Hunt, 247 E. Orange St., Lancaster, Pa. 17602 Filed Dec. 6, 1965, Ser. No. 511,665 8 Claims. (Cl. 308-243) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A journal box lubricator is provided by an oil-absorbent fabric folded to form two inwardly open pockets and sewed to a harness which holds it in the bottom of a railroad journal box. Cores of resilient material are inserted in the pockets and serve both to urge the top stretches of the fabric against the journal surfaces and to form absorbent reservoirs for a supply of oil in the bottom of the journal box.

Bzzckground of the invention.

l`his invention relates to a journal lubricator for use in the journal boxes of railroad cars to furnish lubricating oil to the wheel journals and their bearings.

It is an object of the invention to provide a selfcontained lubricating pad adapted to fit most, if not all, of the journal boxes commonly in use, which is of relatively simple and inexpensive construction, which requires no metal fittings in the box, which will maintain an adequate low and uniform contact pressure between the pad and the journal, and which will serve both to wick lubricating oil from the bottom of the journal box and to contain a reservoir of lubricating oil within itself and supply such oil in satisfactory quantities to the journal and the bearing.

Summary of the invention In accordance with the invention, the lubricator comprises a stiff but flexible frame or harness preferably made of strap or webbing material, such as heavy duck fabric webbing, and two integrated lubricating pods of elongated configuration sewed or otherwise secured to the harness in a position to be held by the harness transversely of the journal axis and circumferentially of the journal surface. Each pod contains a core or block of elastomeric material of suitable resiliency to provide journal contact pressure and of a porous character to absorb and feed a reserve supply of oil, covered by an envelope of one or more layers of chenille-like fabric material. Preferably, the envelopes for the two pods are made from a single strip of fabric having plain border edges and a central area covered with long loop-pile stitching, and the two pads are formed by rolling the ends of the strip about the core blocks inward toward each other to overlie the central stretch of the strip, and the plain edges of the strip are sewed or otherwise secured to the side members of the webbing framework or harness.

In making the preferred form of lubricator pad, the harness is partially assembled to a condition ready for the reception of the pods. The strip of envelope fabric is cut to length to provide a central section of approximately the same length as the harness7 and end sections of sufficient length to form envelopes of at least one thickness about the two core blocks. Each end section is preferably folded to form a box pleat, and the box pleat is laid over against the adjacent half of the central section. The overlying edges of the fabric strip, at the ends of the pleats,v

are then sewed together and to the edges of the central section. The pleats then form two pockets which open toward each other at the center of the assembly. The core blocks are conveniently inserted in these pockets at this stage of manufacture, and the two pods thus formed, which are interconnected by the continuous central section of the fabric strip, are then secured to the frame or harness by sewing the end edges of the pods into the side members of the harness.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention. In such drawings:

FIG. 1 is a central longitudinal section of a conventional journal box with a lubricator embodying the present invention in place beneath the journal;

FIG. 2 is a transverse section taken on the line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmental sectional view showing the long pile loop stitching of the preferred envelope fabric material;

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of a short section of the fabric strip material with which the pods are preferably made;

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of the frame or harness at a stage of manufacture ready for reception of the pod assembly;

FIG. 7 is a partial isometric view showing the preferred pleated and folded arrangement of the pod envelope strip, superimposed on the frame ready to be secured thereto; and

FIG. 8 is an end elevation of a lubricator pad, in free form outside the journal box.

A conventional journal box 10 as shown in FIGS. l, 2 and 3 houses a journal i1 at the end of a wheel axle 12. The journal 11 is engaged by a bearing shoe 14 on which the journal box 10 is supported by its top wall 16. The inner end of the journal box is defined by an end wall 17 which forms a groove 1S for a dust guard, and the outer end of the journal box forms a door opening normally closed by a cover (not shown). As seen in FIG. 2, the bottom wall 22 of the journal box is of semicylindrical configuration and is joined at its edges to vertical side walls 23 which carry internal retaining ribs 24 adjacent their lower edges.

A lubricator pad 30 embodying the present invention is supported by the bottom wall 22 of the journal box, below the retaining ribs 24, and is resiliently compressed between the bottom wall 22 and the overlying journal 11.

Referring to FIG. 2, it will be `seen that the lubricator pad 30 comprises a frame or harness 32 which is sufficiently flexible to conform to the contour of the bottom wall 22 and which is of a width to lie between the retaining ribs 24 with considerable clearance but close enough to prevent excessive displacement of the lubricator pad 30 in the direction of rotation of the journal 11. The pad comprises two pods, each containing a core 34 within a cover 35. Each core 34 is of sufficient thickness and resiliency, and suitably shaped, to hold the fabric cover 35 in lubricating engagement with the journal 11 over a wide circumferential area desirably at least equal to the diameter of the journal 11, and to maintain a uniform but light oiling pressure between the pad and the journal. As will be seen in FIGS. l and 3, the harness 32 extends axially the full length of the pad and substantially the full length of the journal 11, and the two pods 46 which make up the pad and their cores 34 are of sufficient width to provide lubricating engagement with the journal over substantially its entire axial length.

The construction of the pad is shown in FIGS. 4-8. Its harness or framework 32 is shown in partially cornpleted condition in FIG. 6. It comprises a border frame made up of four pieces of wide webbing folded on their center lines to double thickness. As shown in FIG. 6,

the two side members 36 remain in unfolded condition, with their ends received between the folded over layers of the front member 38 and the rear member 39. The front and rear members 38 and 39 are stitched with two lines of stitching 4t? to hold their layers together aud to the side members 36. Desirably, a pull strap 42 interconnects the mid-portions of the front and rear members 38 yand 39 and extends forward therefrom in a pullout loop 44. The rear end of the pullout strap 42 is secured between the folded-over and stitched layers of the rear member 39 while the front portion of the pullout strap 42 overlies the folded-over front member 35 and is stitched thereto. The frame or harness is assembled to the condition shown in FIG. 6 before assembly with the pod assembly described below.

The envelopes or covers of the two pods 46 are desirably formed of a single strip of fabric material of the character shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. As shown in FIG. 5, the strip Sti comprises a woven base fabric of appropriate width having wide marginal areas '52` at its Iselvedge edges which are plain and free from loop- .'pile stitching, and a central area containing a pluraity of longitudinal rows of long loop-pile stitches, to provide a central area of chenille-like fabric 54 between the two plain marginal areas 52. The long loop-pile stitches, as shown in FIG. 4, are preferably made of loosely-twisted coarse cord or string, such as the material known to the trade as yarn cotton 5 ply-4. The loops may be approximately 1 inch in length and distributed over the base fabric in stitches spaced 9/16 inch apart in rows spaced inch apart. The strip is desirably laundered before use, which by removing size from the material of the loops increases the ability of the loops to feed oil, and by shrinking the material of the loops increases the tendency of the loops to twist and thus to preserve their individual identities.

In using a strip 5t! of this character to make the pods for a preferred form of lubricator pad, the strip of material 5t) is cut to appropriate length to be folded and to overlie the harness 32 in the relationship shown in FIG. 7. Its ends should be bound or whipped to prevent raveling. The folded strip Sti provides a central stretch 56 of substantially the same length as the harness 32, and two end portions which are each rolled or folded back over the adjacent half of the central Section 56 to form envelopes for the two cores 34. Preferably, the two end portions are folded to form box pleats 58 as shown in FlG. 7 and each box plcat is laid over the adjacent half of the central section 56. The pleated and folded back material is then stitched together with one or more lines of stitching 60 along both marginal edges of the material, that is, at the ends of the pleats. Conveniently, this stitching is done before the cores 34 are inserted, and when it is completed but before the envelopes thus produced are attached to the harness 32, the cores 34 are inserted through the openings at the center of the assembly. With the cores 34 in place, the pod assembly is laid on the harness 32 with the edges of the stitched margin laid on top of the inner halves of the side members 36 of the harness, and such side members 36 are then folded over the stitched margins, i.e. over the pleated ends of the pods, and the superposed layers are all stitched together to secure the two folded halves of the side members 36 to each other and about the pleated ends of the pods 46. To further strengthen and secure the harness, a rivet 62 is desirably inserted through the overlapping layers at each corner of the harness 32.

The cores 34 are single rectangular blocks of porous elastomeric material, such as open-pore foamed rubber of oil-resistant character, or other similar material. The blocks are sufficiently thick to provide light resilient pressure of the pad against the journal, and are long and wide enough to give the two pods a bearing area covering the full axial length of the journal and extending circumferentially a distance approximately equal to the diameter of the journal, that is, of the order of onesixth of the circumference of the journal.

The lubricator 3i) may be installed and removed from the journal `box by conventional procedures. Conveniently, the car is lifted sufficiently to allow removal of the bearing shoes 14 and is then lowered to provide clearance below the journal, and the lubricators 30 are then removed and replaced. The process is then reversed to reinstall the bearing shoes 14 and rest the car on them, supported by the journals.

The lubricators 30 may be saturated with oil in advance, and additional quantities of oil may be supplied to the bottom of the journal boxes.

In operation, the stiff flexibility of the harness 32 of the lubricator permits it to conform to the shape of the bottom wall 22 of the journal box and to hold the pad firmly against twisting or other distortion, and to frictionally grip the wall of the box to hold the pad in place. As a safeguard, the limited clearance from the guide rails 24 will prevent excessive displacement in the direction of rotation of the journal. The resilient cores are lightly compressed and maintain the top cover surfaces of the pods 46` in constant light oiling contact with the journal surface. Such top cover surfaces are surfaces of a fabric strip which extends (width-wise) as an uninterrupted continuous fabric from one side member 36 of the harness 32 inward and upward to the top of the core 34 and into contact with the journal, then circumferentially along the surface of the journal under pressure from the resilient porous core for a distance equal to the diameter of the journal, and then downward and outward to the other side member 36 of the harness 32. It is thus held firmly in smoothly stretched conditi-on and in substantially uniform pressure against the journal, without danger of localized high pressure areas which might tend to matt or glaze under the operating conditions.

Further, the journal engaging top of each pod is integrally joined at its edges to side stretches which extend downward into any free oil contained in the bottom of the journal box, and at least one of such sides is integrally joined to the bottom wall of the pod cover which lies immersed in such free oil; and the cover itself thus forms an effective wick to feed oil to the journal.

The long pile loops which form the journal engaging face of the pad'are maintained as individual loops which are free to change position, especially when the direction of journal rotation changes, and thus to present new surfaces to the journal.

The cover and core act together to absorb oil contained in the journal box and to feed it to the journal surface, and serve as a reserve reservoir of clean lubricating oil, to maintain effective lubrication after the free oil in the box has been consumed.

The self contained and stiiy flexible character of the lubricator adapts it for use in any of the various types of journal boxes commonly in use. T he materials and construction used in its manufacture give it excellent wicking and oil retention characteristics, and adapt it to furnish a satisfactory surplus of oil to the journal and bearing and to maintain cool operating bearing temperature.

We claim as our invention: 1. A railway journal box lubricator, comprising a rectangular harness having front and rear transverse members and longitudinal side members of stiff exible strap-like material adapted to rest in the curved bottom of a journal box and to conform thereto,

and a pad composed of two elongated pods extending in side-byside relation between said harness sidemembers in position to lie transversely of the journal axis and circumferentially of its surface,

each pod having an envelope covering of oil-conducting fabric and a block core of porous resilient material to resiliently maintain the pod under compression between the journal box bottom and the journal surface and to press the top covering `of the pod into constant light oiling pressure against such surface,

the porous character of the core being adapted to absorb oil into the core and feed the oil to the oil-conducting cover in contact with the journal,

the enevelopes being formed of a single strip of fabric having a central portion extending across both pods, and end portions folded inward over the adjacent areas of the central portion to form the envelopes about the cores, the edges of the fabric strip at the ends of the pod envelopes being secured together and to the side members of the harness.

2. A railway journal box lubricator according to claim 1 in which the said end portions of the strip are gathered in the form of box pleats folded over the adjacent areas of the central portion of the fabric strip.

3. A railway journal box lubricator according to claim 2 in which each -box pleat covers approximately half the central portion of the strip and the pod assembly consists of two substantially contiguous pods.

4. A railway journal box lubricator according to claim 3 in which the harness side members are formed of wide webbing doubled on its center line to form two layers and the ends of the pod pleats are sewed between the webbing layers.

5. A railway journal box lubricator according to claim 1 in which the fabric forming the pod coverings comprises a woven base fabric extending Width-wise longitudinally of the pods, said base fabric having loop-free marginal areas at the ends of the pods and an intermediate area containing a plurality of rows of loop-pile stitching to form a chenille-like surface of a plurality of individual coarse loops.

6. A railway journal box lubricator according to claim 1 in which the fabric forming the pod coverings comprises a woven base fabric extending width-wise longitudinally of the pods, said base fabric having loop-free marginal areas at the ends of the pods and an intermediate area containing a plurality of rows of loop-pile stitching to form a chenille-like surface of a plurality of individual coarse loops.

'7. A railway journal box lubricator according to claim.

3 in which the fabric forming the pod coverings comprises a woven base fabric extending width-Wise longitudinally of the pods, said base fabric having loop-free marginal areas at the ends of the pods and an intermediate area containing a plurality of rows of loop-pile stitching to form a chenille-like surface of a plurality of individual coarse loops.

8. A railway journal box lubricator according to claim 7 with the addition of a pull strap interconnecting midpoints of the front and rear members of the harness and extending forward to form a pull-out handle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,898,161 8/1959 Eddy et al 308-243 3,077,366 2/1963 Pearce 308-88 3,135,563 6/1964 Hennessy 308-243 MARTIN P. SCHWADRON, Primary Examiner.

FRANK SUSKO, Examiner. 

